The Missing Journals
by Blue Lone Wolf 2574
Summary: Bobby's in a bit of a fix. He's been transported to a new world... that's similar to Second Earth! And everthing is already confusing. Can he get help in time? Or will he stay stuck forever? Rated T to be safe. Hoping to become a Spader/Bobby pairing.
1. Chapter 1: A Whole New World

Hello once again loyal readers! It's me again, Blue, here to give you a once in a lifetime ride through my imagination, brought to you proudly by . This time, I'm bringing out a story I've had in my brain for at the last month or so, and it wants out. One can only hope that you guys like it. I give you my first Pendragon story, with some help from MacHale's books themselves. Gods in heaven I love that man's writing. But enough about that for now. It's time to be on with the show! Disclaimer: I don't own '_Pendragon_' in any shape or form. Though Spader would be a cool guy to hang out with. This story is meant to take place preferably somewhere after book six, '_The Rivers of Zadaa_'.

"Iii" = speech

_Iii_ = thought

Chapter 1: A Whole New World

Journal # Unknown

I know I'm supposed to in the new territory of Quillan but… now I don't really know where I am anymore. I'm just glad the ring still works here. Mark, Courtney, I'd probably have a heck of a time figuring out how to send my journals to you. But since I tested it out with my last journal, it's safe to say it won't be a problem here. Everything's been crazy since I first got here, and I don't think it's ever going to calm down anytime soon either. And from what I've learned, there doesn't seem to be a Traveler here since I've looked for the past two days, and found no one. Don't worry though! There are plenty of people here. They just… aren't very normal. But that's for later. First I need to tell you how I got to this place. Even if I don't really quite understand it myself to begin with.

When I sent my last journal, long before this one, I was on Zadaa with Loor, trying to figure out how to keep the Batu and the Rokador from killing each other in mass genocide. Now, I'm in a world that definitely doesn't appear to be anywhere close to being Quillan, where Saint Dane wanted me to follow him too. At this point, I just don't know anymore. For the first few moments, I could swear I was home again. Or so I thought. That was shattered after just five minutes of trying to find my way around. I guess I should start from the beginning right?

When I last wrote you, I had left Zadaa in the hopes of finding Saint Dane on Quillan in case he wanted to try and pull something nasty. Finding out what that was going to be was key. At least that's what I thought I'd be doing once I passed through the flume. Somehow, in some odd way, I've been sidetracked. I was enjoying my peaceful ride through the flume, when just a few minutes into my journey, something started to happen. I'm not sure what it was, but it was really freaky to me. At first, I started to slow down before speeding up again. Naturally, I found this to be highly unusual. The flume's never acted up like this before. The images I usually saw beyond the flume's thin walls were more jumbled and oddly colored. It wasn't I came to a stop and the inner walls of the flume suddenly faded did I know I was in trouble. And there wasn't a thing I could do. I was falling into an unknown abyss and all I could do was flail my arms and legs uselessly in a useless bid to swim.

The images and their colors were jumbled, mixing themselves with the countless stars that shined on, all that they were hard to ascertain as I spun through the space, wondering if I could even breathe. Could I? Was I breathing properly anymore? I didn't know, even as I suddenly felt jolted, something pulling me into a tunnel of light and color. All I could hear was the wind, the feel of it pulling at my Rokador clothes and whipping my hair into the corners of my vision. When I dared to breath, I found that I could, my eyes not believing what they were seeing. I was in a tunnel of what looked like pure light, colored in hues of white, blue and grey. I didn't know whether to think the sight to be beautiful… or frightening. When I tried to move, it was almost like the wind wouldn't let me. Even turning around seemed impossible the wind was so strong. All I could do was stare and feel like I was falling out of airplane at over sixty miles per hour. And it felt that once I hit the bottom, there was no way I would survive.

The only thing I felt I really could do was take in what was happening to me: the colors seemed to exist in blotches, curving with the walls of the endless tunnel. In some places they were like random flecks while in others they were like endless plains. I'd never seen anything like it before. But just as I was starting to enjoy the display, something about the tunnel changed. The turns were more violent, seeming to occur and random times and angles. I didn't know what to do other than let it happen. Only when I myself started to spin around did I know I was probably in trouble. Then the wind seemed to turn me around so that it was now blowing in my face like a hair dryer gone haywire. The force of it made my eyes water. But that didn't matter when I saw what was coming: a field of blue-grey, seeming the glimmer with hints of white. Almost like the surface of a lake or an ocean. At this point, I hoped it was the former of the two.

I'm telling you know guys, when I saw that makeshift horizon, I thought I was a goner for sure. My only thoughts were: _this is it. This is the end of Bobby Pendragon, leader of the Travelers and unknown savior of millions. Goodbye sweet world, I shall miss thee._

But what I thought would happen, didn't happen. I didn't hit water, and I didn't hit land either. I hit… air. Just before I came within a foot of the grey blue mass, I'd shut my eyes. But now I knew I had to open them to see what had happened. At first, I couldn't really believe it. I was floating in midair, a good two feet off the ground, with one of my legs dangling beneath me. I looked left and right, taking notice that my arms were still stretched out next to me, like I was still falling. Confused still, I looked behind me, and saw something totally strange: my right foot was stuck in the blue grey mass just behind me, somehow keeping me suspended in the air. As I tried to comprehend this impossibility, I heard something come from somewhere in front of me. Reacting purely by instinct, I jumped, pulling my right foot free of its prison. But not before gravity finally kicked in and I fell to the ground with an undeniable _thwump_.

For the first few seconds, it hurt when I hit the dirt, the feel of small rocks and twigs poking me through my clothes. This sort of information confused me. Twigs and rocks? I thought, lifting my head to finally focus on the rest of my surroundings. What I saw shocked me to the core: I was in a forest, quiet and still with trees reaching higher than a five-story building. A few were no thicker than my waist. Just after a glance or two, I could see that some were probably a few feet in diameter. From what I could see of the sky, it was probably a little after noon. Grunting from the feel of the forest's undergrowth, I picked myself off the ground to get a better catch on my bearings.

But the sound I'd heard before came again, just as loud and sudden as the first time I heard it. Looking up, I saw a few birds (or what I hoped were birds) fly over, making the same loud cawing as before. Crows. I'd been freaked out of my skin by a bunch of stupid crows. Mentally kicking myself for jumping at such a thing, I turned around to see if the blue grey mass was still behind me. Much to my surprise, it still was, and there seemed to be more to it than I thought. It stretched out, like a circle, its surface still shifting and glimmering like water. Its edge was just as weird, thin and misty, swirling like fog in a way that suggested it was meant to keep it in the shape of a huge circle. Just by staring at it, I couldn't help but think that whatever it was, it was alive somehow. When I reached out to touch it, it felt like my skin was coming in contact with something really supercharged. It felt so weird to where I had to pull my hand back almost like it was on fire.

Stepping back, I saw it was about as tall as a phone booth and as wide as a set of double doors. But when I looked down, I saw it wasn't even touching the ground! This thing was floating in midair like I had, but there didn't seem anything it could do to fall back to earth again. Instead, it just floated there, giving off an eerie light that made little shadows on the rock and stuff around it. Like it had all the time in the world, just floating there and looking almost innocent. But I knew better. This thing was trouble. Just by standing next to it made me feel uneasy. I knew I had to get away from it. But to where? And why did it send me to the middle of nowhere?

This question seemed to be answered almost immediately when I finally turned around to find something was moving through the brush. At first I thought it was a quig of some sort, coming out of the shadows to try and kill me. But then I thought, no way it's a quig! I'm not in some warehouse or abandoned place like before. This wasn't any normal stopping point between flume rides. There were no clothes set out for me to change into, and there definitely wasn't a door with the telltale star drawn onto it. This place was totally different from Halla. And I highly doubted that if I yelled 'Second Earth' at the blue grey thing behind me, it wouldn't just start glowing along with the usual odd music and send me home. Or anywhere else familiar either. As far as I knew, I was stuck.

--_**Second Earth**_—

Mark and Courtney stared down at the loose-leaf notebook pages that they held between the two of them. They knew it was from Bobby the second it came through the ring, even if what was written looked a bit rushed. Almost as if he was short on time somehow. Such a thing shouldn't really bother them by this point, but it still felt a little disturbing at the sight of their friend's hasty writing. If anything, it was very out of character when it came to Bobby. Usually when he sent his journals, they were neat and well thought out. But now it looked like he only had a small amount of time to write everything down.

As usual, they'd holed themselves in the basement of the Chetwynde residence, leaving Mark to tell the teenage girl's parents a little white lie about why he was there. Not something he was really accustomed to, but just as long as they knew Bobby was safe, telling a lie or two was nothing compared to what Saint Dane could unleash.

Courtney Chetwynde, naturally pretty and athletic, turned to her fellow acolyte with inquiry filling her normally confident eyes. "Where do you suppose he is?"

Mark Dimond, said fellow acolyte and as nervous as always, could only shrug in his own case of confusion. All he could do was stare at the pages in awe at what it said of his best friend's journey. "No idea. And why did the flume act like that?"

"I don't know either," the girl muttered, shaking her head, her face clouded with thought and emotion. "Maybe there's something more going on than anyone originally thought. Should we message someone?"

"I'm not sure. I want to read a bit more before we do. In case he got the answers before he sent this to us." it was a good idea, but as usual, Courtney wanted to take action rather than sit and do nothing.

"Are you sure Mark? It could be he never finds out. He might need us to tell him ourselves."

"We don't know that! We won't know until we finish the journal. It could be staring it right in the face by now." The boy could only smirk at her, his expression showing he knew her enough to know how to calm her. It wasn't smart to go running without knowing what the game plan was. "Let's not jump ahead okay?"

Eyes of dark brown met his, accompanied by a thankful smile. "Alright. We'll finish the journal. But then we figure out what might've gone wrong. Deal?"

"Deal." He said, also smiling.

Having resolved the issue for the moment, both teens turned back to the pages in front of them. It wasn't long before they were fully snared in what it said, their minds recreating what it was their lifelong friend had seen who knew how long ago.

--_**Journal # Unknown Continued**_—

I was still mulling over whether or not and try the odd circle again in a bid to head back into the flumes again when I noticed something weird. For a forest, it was awfully quiet. I hadn't heard a thing since the crows sang their icky song and flew off. No siree, this place was as quiet as a graveyard at nighttime. Only difference was that it was daytime, but just as creepy. From the way the sun was through the trees, I could tell it would be several hours before the sun went down for the night. Which meant I had some walking to do if I wanted to know where I was and why.

Knowing that hanging around in a forest all night wasn't exactly a smart move, I made sure I knew which direction I was heading. No need to get lost right off right? It felt good to be moving again, of my own free will and with purpose. Almost like all the stuff I was doing as a Traveler was doing more than making a difference. But just when I'd only gone maybe ten feet or more, I was quickly brought back to reality. By the sound of an angry grunt, loud and very distinct, from somewhere over to my left. And saw something come flying my way.

I didn't even try to think. All I did was duck and hope I wasn't going to get hit by… whatever it was. My instincts kicked in. all that Loor taught me was still pretty fresh in my head as I quickly rolled away and jumped up again, posed and ready for anything. Only what I saw was really weird. The thing that'd gone over me had hit a tree a few yards away and had fallen to the ground, and wasn't getting up. Confused, I tried looking around for what had tossed it so far… when something up and sent me flying like a rag doll too. I'd sensed it, but it'd come too quick for me to defend against, much less get out of the way of whatever was on a rampage.

No sooner had I tried to turn around, I was flying through the air and slammed right into the thick trunk of hemlock. The force of it made me grunt, pain exploding all the way up and down my spine and my left side. The pain was so immense, I was temporarily blinded as I fell to the ground. From somewhere far off, I thought I heard someone get up, grunting from pain and letting out low pants of fatigue. The person making the noises sounded low and feminine. Next I heard the noises getting closer, and fast, as the sound of running footsteps filled my ears. Whoever she was, she was really moving it. More sounds rang through the air as I tried to get back up and clear my vision, the sound of metal on metal. Almost like blade meeting blade. That was all I needed to know since I knew more than anything that I didn't have a weapon.

The crunch of twigs and rustle of fallen leaves were the only sounds I could hear other than my own bones popping themselves back into place. Man did it hurt! Just as it seemed like I could walk away, someone came up behind me and practically yelled into my ear.

"GET DOWN!!" it was the girl, and she sounded serious even though I still couldn't see straight. So I was on the ground, yet again, but this time I had more of a warning about it. This time I was ready. All it did was make me twice as dizzy. Colors and shapes spun around in my line of sight as my body struggled to follow, a firm hand grabbing hold of my tunic collar. A hand was all that was needed to pull me back down again before vanishing again. Rustling leaves and twigs told me that whoever it was, she'd quickly rolled away in the hopes of facing the attacker. All I heard was more metal on metal, somewhere away from me as I tried to see what was in front of me. I couldn't help but wonder why the ground wasn't just brown and green.

As if on cue, my vision cleared up enough for me to tell why: there were leaves everywhere. Some were still a little green, but they were mostly yellow and orange, each their own shape and size as they lay scattered on the ground. Now confident in my regained sense of perception, I dared to try and get up, ignoring the pain I felt in my back and my side. Once I was up, I turned towards the sounds of clashing metal… and regretted it immediately. There was a girl all right. But she looked about five years older than me, and she was fast moving.

But it wasn't her that made me regretful. No, it was the thing she was fighting. If one could actually call it a 'thing' per se. It looked human enough, but something about it told me otherwise as the girl swung what looked like a sword at it, making it leap away in a blur of cloth and fast moving limbs. Only when it stopped did I get a real good look at it, and what I saw made me want to barf: if zombie movies ever came to life, this was the most real it could ever get. The thing, or man from what I could tell, was dressed in the remains of a Second Earth business suit, its skin dark and probably peeling in places. Its eyes were not only oddly sized, but mismatched in color. Like he'd found a new one when the old one fell out. Talk about gross. Its teeth weren't any better: jagged and brownish yellow, I could tell they were meant more for a shark rather than a person. I definitely couldn't believe my eyes.

I'd seen a lot of things in my journeys as a Traveler, but this was most definitely a first in my book. I'd seen giant bears, killer dogs and two headed cats. But zombies were undeniably beyond the normal Halla wildlife spectrum. Something tells me I'm probably not in Halla anymore. Well, whatever it was, I could tell it was having a bad day since the girl kept on fending it off with her sword. While it tried to clobber her with its ungainly arms, staggering to keep up with her rather up beat pace. Apparently she couldn't get a good hit in without being struck upside the head. Probably why she appeared intent on closing the gap, but couldn't when its arms forced her to keep her distance.

Something finally clicked in my brain about the whole situation: what if there was more than one of them? Adrenaline dulling all my pain and dizziness to just a mere ache and slight loss of balance, I quickly scanned the surrounding area. Thankfully all I saw were trees, more trees …oh yeah and trees. It was just the three of us: a strange girl, a zombie that looked like a 3-D drive-in movie gone wrong… and me. If anything, I really felt out of place by now.

Noticing that I was up on my own two feet again, the girl suddenly let out a curse or two as she swiftly kicked the zombie aside and turned towards me in order to yell just one thing: "dammit to hell kid, RUN!!!"

I was about to do as I was told… until I saw her eyes. Guys, I'll tell you now that at that very moment, the world had never felt so still. Her eyes were icy blue, almost to where they were colorless. Almost like Saint Dane's. I couldn't help but freeze, as my blood became ice in my veins I was wigging out so bad. Unlike me, she didn't stop moving. She just feinted a few deadly swipes of her blade before turning back towards me in an all-out run, nearly clothes lining me to get me to run with her. And from how fast she was going, I knew that more likely than not, the zombie thing wouldn't be very far behind. As demonstrated by the loud howling noise that resounded from the clearing we'd just been in. it was a haunting noise, so much so I nearly stopped in shock from just hearing it. But the girl wouldn't let me.

"Don't stop you idiot! Stick with me if you want out of here in one piece!" she snapped, her voice already a welcome sound to my ears. Even if she was kinda bossy and sounded really angry.

The whole ordeal hadn't really given me a chance to actually notice it, but it wasn't until now that I saw she was dressed like someone from Second Earth. From what I could tell, she was dressed mostly in denim. She probably even had a t-shirt on, while her shoes were (hopefully) a good pair of sneakers. If that was true, then I'd just struck the motherload of good clothing. No more weird get ups and odd pieces of underwear for me. Or at least I hoped so. But I couldn't really think about since we were both running from something that was likely to eat our brains if we stopped long enough. Me, being the new guy, had no idea which way we were going. The girl, somehow, seemed to have a better sense of direction than me.

"Left, LEFT!" she'd hiss a time or two, making us zigzag between trees and bushes as the thing behind us seemed to jog fast enough to keep up. Finally, after a few dozen more trees, the girl suddenly pulled at my tunic… and effectively pulled me with her into the nearby wall of brush. As soon as we were surrounded by green, and before I could protest, she almost literally slapped her free hand over my mouth and waited.

As if on cue, the zombie thing stumbled into view. The frickin' thing wasn't even gasping for air! It came to a halt, and turned in place, looking around in search of us. The next few minutes seemed to go by forever as we watched it tried to find us with its eyes alone. What seemed like hours later, the zombie thing finally let out a few grunts of frustration as it turned and jogged away. The girl let go of me when we couldn't hear it struggle through the bushes anymore.

Immediately after exiting the large bushes, I was able to get a better look at her: she wore jeans of a dark blue with a jean jacket that almost matched their color. The jacket's design was a bit confusing though, since it only came down to her ninth rib. There didn't seem to be any pockets, while the sleeves had a baggy appearance that seemed to make up for the lack of material. I'd been half right about everything else though. She was wearing a navy blue tank top, but the bull's-eye had been the sneakers. Her smooth face and mud brown, shoulder length hair completed her look, making her seem more like a predator rather than a person.

Figuring it was now or never, I decided to make my thoughts very well known to the one person who actually knew I existed. "What the heck was that all about? What was that thing?"

Ice blue eyes turned on me, their ferocity something I was very familiar with as she just scowled at me. "You sure you wanna know? Cuz I can tell you now… you won't like what I might tell you."

"That doesn't matter to me right now! I just want to know who you are, how I got here and what the heck that thing was!"

"Wait… what do you mean 'how'?" she demanded appearing honestly confused by my questions. "Did you…?"

I held my arms wide, my face voicing my questions even as I verbalized them. "Did I what? What?"

Her frustration had apparently cooled down to being simple curiosity as she stared me down, instantly cautious of what I might say. "You… don't know where you are right now?"

"No! I don't, honest! And… where'd your sword go?" that being a good question since what she held in her hand wasn't a sword, but a cane. Not a hooked one, but the kind that's usually got a special top on it.

The girl just looked at me a little sideways, glancing between the cane in her hand and me, randomly twirling it in her hand. From what I could tell, she was thinking pretty hard about something. It wasn't until a few minutes later that she spoke again.

"You said you don't know how you got here right?"

Well duh. "Um… yeah. So?"

Curiosity now had a bit of suspicion mixed into it, her eyes never losing their eerie intensity. "And you had no idea what that thing was? None at all?"

Tired of being questioned and forced to run everywhere, I finally scoffed at this question, my stress just then kicking in. "That's why I'm asking you! Are you going to answer me or not?"

Her face cleared almost instantly. "No."

"What? Why not!?" I couldn't help but practically yell at her. How could she be so calm at a time like this?

"We need to get out of here, before it comes back with friends."

My jaw nearly dropped in disbelief. "There's more than one?!?"

Unaffected by my words, the girl just shrugged. "Probably. But we won't know that until they come back now won't we?" she paused only to look up, from one side to the other before turning and waving at me to follow her. "C'mon. You look worse than I feel."

"And why should I listen to you?" I exclaimed, truly angry now over how she was literally pulling me. Almost as if she was baiting me.

Blinking just once at my outburst, the girl turned back towards me, crossed her arms and openly feigned deep thought. "Hmm. Let's think: I just saved your life, twice mind you, I have the information you need and probably the only means you have of getting home." coming out of her pose, her eyes burned into my skin once again as she spoke once more. "You want to stay out here and die a horrible death? Be my guest. Otherwise, just fall in before it starts to get cold. It's bad enough I had to fight that thing."

I could only stare at her in disbelief as she turned and walked away, expertly using the cane when a part of the ground became too steep for her. Not only was she rude, but she was also, quite obviously, quick-tempered and snappy with her words. Even if it wasn't possible, I thought I felt the sting of her words. This girl knew how to tell the truth as it was. At this point, I couldn't tell if that was a bad thing… or a good thing. But she did have a point about being alone and vulnerable. I didn't see any other choice than following her to civilization… and real clothing. I don't know what I'll find when we get there, but I seriously hope you guys got this journal.

Thanks for reading everyone! It's high time to end the chapter here, as I do with all the first chapters, but I can assure you all that the rest will be a lot longer. Way longer. But that's for later. For those of you who're deathly curious, I've decided to try and make this fic a Bobby/Spader pairing. I've already seen a really good example or two to work from but I'll definitely keep mine purely original. I humbly respect the Bobby/Loor pairings out there, but we gotta add some variety to the pack right? Now that chapter one of '_The Missing Journals_' is done, let's see what's to come:

Next:

Chapter 2: New World, New Perspective

Bobby's lost, confused, and stuck in a strange world with an ill-tempered girl as his guide in the hopes of survival. Can he really trust her? Or is she a lot more trouble than she's letting on? Plus, Mark and Courtney now have a mystery to solve about Bobby's flume ride gone wrong. But as they dig deeper, the questions just keep piling up: why Bobby? Why is no one else affected? What caused it in the first place? Is there a way for him to get back before Saint Dane has a field day in Halla? Find out in the next all new chapter of '_The Missing Journals_' with:

_**Chapter 2: New World, New Perspective!!**_


	2. Chapter 2: New World, New Perspective

Hello again readers! And welcome back to my latest fic known only as '_The Missing Journals_'! I'm glad you could come and see what's in store and as promised, this chapter is at least twice as long as the last. And hopefully, twice as exciting. Ready? Alrighty then! One more thing: I don't own Pendragon in any shape or form. But if they ever come up with some kind of physical manifestation for Spader, I hope he turns out really sexy. But that's just me. Enjoy everybody!!!

"Iii" = speech

_Iii_ = thought

Chapter 2: New World, New Perspective

Getting through the forest took what felt like hours. Even if the brightness of the sun didn't change all that much as we walked, making it hard to tell what time it was. The girl however, didn't seem all that bothered by this possible time lapse. I could almost swear that she didn't really care. From our previous conversation, such a thing didn't seem all that surprising. She was already hostile enough with my seemingly stupid questions. Making it worse probably wouldn't help me all that much. But had to get information somehow.

"Do you have a name by any chance?"

She didn't even turn around or stop when she responded. "Do you?"

"Yeah, but I want to know yours first." What the hell kind of question was that?

"Maybe when you're not almost fifteen feet behind me." I heard her mutter from the distance that separated us, her movements being far more elegant and certain than mine. "And after you're done tripping over roots like an idiot."

Oh yeah. This woman was one hundred percent hostile. So much as approaching her was probably a life-threatening act. A move only made by fools. But she was right. I'd already tripped four times, mostly out of fatigue, and had tumbled down a small hill or two when the root made it hard to tell where the ground was. These small incidents of clumsiness didn't even faze her, much less make her stop or slow down. She had stopped only twice and that was to give me looks that clearly state 'are you seriously this dimwitted?'

These expressions only lasted about half a minute before she was off again, the rustle of the leaves caused by her steps mere whispers to my obviously loud footsteps. It was almost like she was either lighter than she appeared, or was really nimble. Even if she did have a slight limp in her right leg that normally would've suggested a slow gait rather than an oddly swift walk. Just the sound of her unnecessarily harsh words, voiced in a tone that just bled of slight irritation, almost made me trip all over again. But I got my balance back well enough to jog a little ahead of her, trying to look her in the face as I tried to reinitiate our one-sided conversation.

"Could you at least tell me your name? I highly doubt we'll be strangers for long anyway."

Even if she didn't stop, this seemed to make her think. As if trusting me with her name was a giant step of some sort. For most people, it really was. For her, more likely than anything that was the case. Was it possible that trusting other people was a big issue for her?

Just as I was thinking this concept over, she surprised me when she finally broke the silence that surrounded us. "Terri."

"What?" I hadn't heard her the first time, but I knew she'd said something.

She didn't turn to face me. "Just call me Terri."

"Well, okay. I'm Bobby."

This slowed her down, making her turn to give me a rather quick once over before turning away again. "Huh. And here I thought you were just weird."

I almost couldn't believe my ears. "What?"

"We're almost there." She said abruptly, obviously changing the subject.

"Almost where?"

"Almost to town."

Town turned out to be a city. And a rather big one, if you decided to go by Second Earth standards. Before entering the local suburbia, she made me stop by a large shed that looked pretty abandoned. Inside were the clothes I'd missed out on at the large glowing circle. Jackets, pants, shirts, shoes, even underwear of almost every color, style and size I could think of. I was in heaven. Terri didn't say anything to me, she just turned and walked away as if to give me privacy. And I wasn't complaining. Getting to wear normal clothes again made me glad I was there. Even though I had no idea what happened that I'd come there and why. Once I was fully dressed (and loving it), I exited the shed to see Terri seated on a rock only a yard or two away.

Hearing my footsteps, she turned to face me, raising an eyebrow at my visual transformation. It felt weird for some reason when she didn't say anything. She simply got up and started walking towards the lines of houses, going slow enough for me to keep pace with her. It took us mere minutes to reach the nearest backyard, the ground was covered in yellowing leaves amidst the small children's toys littered everywhere. But she passed them all without pause, calmly walking alongside the house, through the front lawn and into the street. I saw a few Volvos, a Mercury here and there. I thought I even saw a Mercedes parked a few houses down.

Like before, she passed them all by until we came to the other side of the street was when I saw it: a navy blue 60's Ford Mustang, shiny and fully restored in the now dim sunlight of the late autumn afternoon. Terri wasted no time in heading for the driver's side, procuring car keys (possibly from one of her jean pockets) and stuck the thing into the hole. All I could do was gape at the car, rooted to the sidewalk in awe of the classic machine of the highway.

"Hey! Earth to kid!" her grating aggravation was clear in her voice as she scowled at me over the mirror like roof of the car.

"What?"

She just gazed at me like it was a moron. "You getting in or what?"

Oh, right. "Uh yeah."

She just shook her head and vanished into the car, leaving me to jump towards the passenger side and get inside. The inside was just as clean and pristine as the outside was. The light tan leather seats and interior was fully restored and absolutely flawless. As if unmarred by time's harsh hands and ever flowing, unrelenting sands. I could swear it smelled like trees, until I saw the tree shaped air freshener stuffed near the air vent. Just as soon as I got in, I saw the cane was haphazardly sticking out between our seats as she stuck the key in the ignition. When the car started, it sounded like a racecar revving up for the big start.

"Uh… where did you get this car?" I had to ask while buckling the seat belt.

Terri just sat there for a second, apparently viewing it as a rather idiotic question, even if it meant perfect sense to me. "I bought it, and I put it back together. Why?"

"So… you're not a Traveler?"

"A whatnow?" All I could think was 'oops'. I must've gone too far from the puzzled look on her face. She probably thought I was really crazy now. "As in, an adventurer?"

"Kind of."

She accepted this answer with a raised eyebrow and a nod. "I was right."

It was my turn to look confused. "About what?"

"You are weird."

My mouth hung open. She'd just not called me weird. What was up with this woman anyway? I let the silence go on for about a street or two before I finally got the right question into my head. "At least tell me where we're going!"

Terri wasn't even bothered by my demanding tone, calmly turning the wheel as we turned onto a busier street, lightly pushing on the gas at the cross guards' signal from the middle of the intersection. "Simple. My place. Where else?"

"Gee I don't know! Why don't you--?" I didn't know it then, but I definitely know it now. What happened next was bad. At first, it felt like a hard pinch before it became a stinging pain, coming up from my feet and up towards my thighs. When I looked down, my hands had gone ash grey.

Terri seemed to take one look, and instantly became disturbingly pale. "Oh shit."

All I could do was panic. This was definitely a first in my book. "What's happening? What's going on?!?"

"Just sit still and don't think about it." I heard her say, the car somehow beginning to go faster as I noticed she didn't sound so confident anymore. Not good.

"But what--?"

"I said don't think about it! You'll only make it spread faster!!" she snapped, once again sounding really angry, but I could hear the bits and pieces of concern. She wasn't showing it but she was probably panicking too.

"You've seen this before?!?" I demanded as I stared at her, a bit dumbfounded that she didn't try to warn me of it first. Whatever this was.

"Damn right I have. And only in other-worlders who popped in too fast to adjust." Terri wasn't looking at me anymore, just at the road. Apparently we were going somewhere very different than before now. "Did you get here through a tunnel of swirling colors?"

What the hell did _that_ matter? "Maybe! But what's that got to do--?"

"What colors were there?" she wasn't playing games, at least none that I knew of. Only problem being I didn't know if I should go ahead and play along.

"But what--?"

Having lost her patience, Terri almost literally screamed into my ear the same question as before. "The colors! What were the COLORS?!"

The memories were still fresh in my mind, so it was easy for me to answer her. Before she tried to kill me. "Um… blue, grey and white."

"Fuckin' hell!" ice blue eyes back and forth, looking for cars as she hit the steering wheel in obvious anger.

Not a good sign. "What is it?"

"It might be nothing, but I ain't takin' any chances. Just sit tight. We're takin' a little detour." Next thing I knew we were taking another turn. A really hard left since we were tearing through the streets like they were part of a racetrack. "Did you happen upon it by chance or what?"

I knew she meant the tunnel thing. "I don't know. It just happened. I was on my way to somewhere else and then it just suddenly sucked me in!"

This information just confused her. "You got sucked in? Like a vacuum?"

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at the question. "Yeah, just pulled me right in. Didn't exactly give me a choice about where I was going either. Any chance you could tell me what's going on?"

She just shook her head as she pushed the gas pedal down further than before, making us fly past three different empty intersections. "Telling you might make it worse."

I wasn't going to take that for an answer. No way. "Just tell me. I've probably been through worse."

"I don't really--."

It was my turn to lose my patience. "Just tell me!"

She hesitated, like she really didn't want to tell me. "Your body's rejected the transfer. It's defending itself against something that doesn't exist. Sensory overload, germ and virus exposure, shift in energies, not to mention sudden injury and disorientation, the works. Your immune systems' in overdrive and your chi levels are dropping."

Even if it didn't make sense, I knew that she was right about not telling me. "My chi? What's that?"

Not skipping a beat, she kept going, smoothing navigating the roads like a boat on water as we passed cars left and right. "Natural energy. Your life force, your sole connection to your home world, and the only thing in your body besides your heart that's keeping you alive right now and not in two million pieces on the ground. It's not used to this place so it's withdrawing into your body to protect itself. It's afraid that if it tries to go beyond your skin it'll be killed or swept away. I know someone who can tell it otherwise."

"So… what? My legs fall off?" I'd been too busy trying to hold down panic to notice that we'd long since left the family homes and cars and were now surrounded by skyscrapers and even a few taxi cabs.

"Only if you're really unlucky." When she saw my face, she just gave me a puzzled look. "What? I'm kidding."

I nearly screamed at her. Just how demented was this woman? "Don't kid! It's not all that funny right now."

"Who said I was trying to be funny?" I could almost hear the sarcasm. Oh yeah. Haha, very funny.

I sat back a little, giving her a look of disbelief. "How soon do we meet your friend? An hour?"

For once, her answer was calm. Almost too calm, even for her. "No, just two minutes."

"What?" That didn't make any sense.

"You'll see in just a second."

That second came one second almost too soon. Just as soon as she spoke, we came into an intersection filled with cars. Were I able to move, I'd have been bracing myself, maybe even attempting to jump out of the car in a hope of saving myself from a rather painful and unpleasant death. But Terri didn't stop, and she didn't slow down. All she did was hold the wheel steady before swiftly turning it to the right. The squeal of rubber on tarmac was loud and almost unbearable. A few cars slammed on their brakes, their drivers shocked and then infuriated. Terri wasted no time in righting the wheel and stepping on the gas. All without even glancing at the mirrors or facing the civilians who were, by now, cursing her and all that she was. Without so much as a glance, we were going straight again and headed toward a less populated area. This girl knew how to drive.

I could see a few people on the sidewalks ahead of us, one or two stopping to stare at the car headed towards them. One seemed to predict what was about to occur and simply started running away. At the time, I didn't know why he ran, but I guess he had good reason because just as we were halfway there, Terri had turned the wheel again. This time we slid across the road, somehow coming to a swift halt. Perfectly parallel-parked next to the sidewalk, making the car wobble a little before going still. Like I said, this girl could really drive.

Not even skipping a beat, she finally turned to me again. "You feel anything?"

Another wave of pain hit me, making me wince, pulsing like and extra heart that wasn't doing me any good. "They sting. A lot."

She nodded in understanding. "I figured. Can you feel your legs?"

"Just enough to say they're still attached. Where'd you learn to drive like that?" I just had to ask. You knew that driving like that didn't happen except in big races, cop chases and the movies. And this situation was none of the three.

"Here and there. What about your hands? Can you move them?"

I tried, I really did. But all they did was twitch. "A little."

"It'll have to be enough. Sit tight okay kid? I'll be back in a sec."

She got out before I could respond, having grabbed her cane and let the door shut with a hollow slam as she walked as fast as her lame leg would allow. Within seconds, she was gone, having briskly walked alongside the large brick wall to simply vanish around the corner. I couldn't do anything but sit there, wincing as the stinging became more like a stabbing pain. I thought for a moment that I might pass out. And for a moment, I almost did. That is until I noticed movement.

"Terri? That you?" I got no response, which was never really a good sign. I tried to look around, but saw no one. Until I finally looked to my right… and found a face almost too close to mine. I couldn't help but yell in surprise. The one thing I noticed first was his eyes. They were bright, hunter green, deep and mysterious, with flecks of golden yellow floating around the pupil. These eyes were serious, unmoving, and totally creepy. And his face was just as stiff. I mean this guy was expressionless, almost like a robot. His hair was fairly short and light brown, while his face was kinda pale. This guy looked like he'd never had acne in his life.

The cap he had on didn't hide the intensity of his eyes, much less how young he looked. I could swear he was probably nineteen. His stare was so profoundly disturbing, I was finding it hard to look away. Until someone opened the driver's side door and got in, making the whole car shift on its axis before settling. Startled, I turned to find… the very same face as before. Only difference now was that this face had expression. It had emotion. That and the guy actually spoke.

"Hi! I'm Evan. You're the other-worlder I presume?" he asked, smiling widely, revealing fairly straight teeth that looked pretty well cared for.

Was I really so different that they kept calling me 'other-worlder'? "Uh yeah? What are you--?"

The guy in the car with me didn't even hesitate to answer my half-spoken question. "I'm here to help you. Hold out your hands please?"

Feeling the other guy's eyes burning into the back of my head, I didn't see any other choice but to comply. Despite the pain that made them go numb, I could feel this guy touching my hands. But his touch was gentle, professional and tentative. The kind expression had been replaced with one of deep concentration, like he was putting together something complex in his head. He seemed to watch my reactions out of the corner of his eyes, since whenever he tried to move my fingers himself, he wouldn't repeat the action if I winced. The warmth of his fingertips felt weird, even when he avoided touching too much. Almost like he was learning as much as he could, without making me feel like he was invading my space or something.

As the guy in the car with me looked at my hands, I couldn't help but notice how different he was from the one outside my door. Evan, the guy in the car with me, was dressed in a loose pair of jeans and a green v-neck sweater. The other guy looked like he was from an auto shop, dressed in a dark blue mechanic's jumpsuit with the top half tied around his waist. His hands, which were placed on the edge of the car door over the slim opening for the window was, looked a bit greasy from oil and possibly something else car related, since a small amount of it was smeared on the grey shirt he was wearing. As well as the old rag I could barely see sticking out of his side pocket. And the whole time, all he did was stare. I was beginning to wonder when the hell he'd blink.

The guy in the driver's seat, looking up from observing my ash grey hands, just gave me another kind smile as he spoke. "Don't worry about him. He won't hurt you. Just as long as you don't make him angry, you'll be fine."

"Who are you exactly?" I felt a little stupid repeating my question, but being stared at by two different people made me feel forgetful.

"I'm Evan, and that's my older twin Ozzy. You should relax. I'm going to be your doctor for a while after all."

I had to scoff at this. No way these guys were that smart. "My doctor? Are you kidding me? You guys look like you're still in college!"

Imagine my surprise when he scoffed in turn, the kindness of his unwavering to suggest he had a carefree nature. "College? Dude, we finished that in less than two months! And I can assure you, I know what I'm doing. Now this might sting…"

"What?" the next thing I knew, I felt a sharp sting only to find there was a needle sticking out the fingertip of my left pinkie. And Evan was holding it there. I tried to pull my hand back but he held on pretty good without even blinking. "Ow! What was that?!?"

That weird smile of his was back as he just grinned proudly at me. Not exactly a very reassuring expression you can give someone. "A little stimulus package. It should get your systems back in gear. You should relax a bit more. The process takes a little minute to take effect."

I couldn't help but think he was right. Even as he told me, I could feel the pain going away as I felt my limbs coming back under my control. Relieved that everything was kind of back to normal, the feeling that the elder twin's eyes were still drilling into my head was a little uncomfortable. The twin in the car with me seemed to take notice and smiled that smile that was almost a little too friendly.

"Don't worry about him. He's not big on trusting new people. If you were a threat, he'd have pulled you out of the car before now."

Really? That's so reassuring. "Then why is he staring at me like that?"

The smile ebbed a little, his face showing his confusion. "I don't know. I think he's trying to decide whether you're worth listening to."

Now that didn't make any sense. Why would he want to listen to me for? For all I cared, I wouldn't even blink if he got on a stage and did standup. Seeing it and thinking about it were definitely two different things, mostly due to the fact that Terri came back around the side of the building and headed right for the car. Ozzy, without even blinking, silently turned to face her, taking his hands off the car as he turned. Not even uttering a word, he immediately backed away, making room for her to lean into the window as he did once she was right next to it.

But instead of talking to me, she glanced right at Evan and spoke. "How we doin' in there?"

Evan just smiled kindly at her as he spoke, seeming to pay me no mind at all. "All done here boss. He'll be up and about on his own in about… twenty minutes. I'm surprised that it's acting so fast. Did something happen to this guy?"

"Yeah. He got sucked here. Literally. I'm thinking a rogue express gate. Which is half the reason I got here so fast to see you two. I need you two to go check it out before tomorrow. See if you can't shut it down before it spews out any other unwilling passengers." She replied grimly, her expression troubling me more than it probably should have. "And be extra careful too. I met up with a rotter that was real intent on keepin' me away from it for some reason. If you find it, do what you can to deal with it. Enough of a job for you guys?"

"Sure thing boss." He said calmly, as if something like that were a normal thing to him. "Where to?"

"About fifteen miles southeast of here, over in the wooded area next to the southern housing district. It shouldn't be too far in for you boys to find. And keep those syringes handy in case you find another one like him. The last thing we need is the D.A. and the I.A.B. on our asses because we left a few stiffs to chill in the ye olde forest."

"Sure thing boss. But what about him?" clearly indicating me with the slight nod of the head. Almost like I was just some little kid that didn't know any better.

But Terri just gave me a passive look. "I need to take him my way. Get him settled. I'd leave him with one of the other two but they're out on recon. Think you guys can handle it?"

Evan's smile just widened considerably, practically until it was a grin. "Need you even ask? We'll get right on it. Right bro?"

We all seemed to turn to Ozzy, who still stood silently to the side. Like before, he didn't say a thing. All he did was nod. Talk about weird. He didn't say a word while his brother talked like there was no tomorrow. Just what was it about these two that made them so different anyway? Regardless of my thoughts, both Evan and Terri seemed to accept Ozzy's response, both suddenly in motion. As Evan got out of the car, Terri moved around the front of the car to get in it. I couldn't feel anymore out of place. Soon, it was as though they'd switched spots, this time with Evan looking in while Terri and I looked out.

As she buckled in and calmly gripped the wheel, she turned to Evan as she spoke, this time her tone was stern. Almost like a mom talking to her kids about the rules. "I want anything reported to me by tomorrow at 9 a.m. You got me?"

From the corner of my eye I thought I saw Ozzy nod as Evan just kept on smiling at us. He even half pretended to salute. "Loud and clear." He turned his head to look at me, the smile still going strong. "You hang in there okay?"

"Yeah. I'll do that." I said as calmly as I could as Terri started the car so we could slowly begin to drive away, leaving the twins on the sidewalk behind us. Finally I turned to look at Terri. "D.A.? I.A.B? What are those?"

For the first time since, well ever, Terri actually shrugged as she kept her eyes on the road. "Department of Associates and the Internal Affairs Bureau, both of which are sometimes real pains in the asses if you ask me. In other words, if we screw up, our asses are fried like fast food chicken." Then she nodded in my direction before turning her attention back the road. "Roll up the window will ya?"

I could only gape, incredulous before I finally did as asked. "Wait, there are more of you?"

"Who do you think those two were?" she scoffed, her expression hinting towards the ghost of a smirk. "This city's under our supervision, making it our jobs to keep any and all within its limits, as well as the surrounding areas, from harm they can't defend against. Whether it's natural… or not."

"So who are you? The Ghostbusters?"

Luckily we'd come to a stop at an intersection when she scowled at me. "Do you see Bill Murray anywhere? Is this car white with a ghost on the side? No, it's not. But we do deal with the deceased on occasion."

This just confused me even more. "On 'occasion'? You speak zombie? Like that thing back there?"

"No. Zombies are a creation of medieval European paranoia and movie directors needing a little something to their films besides pretty blondes and handsome jocks getting killed every two minutes. And that's only if they've no one to play the psycho killer or take the helm of the fake, robotic lake monster. You've no idea how many critters we had to stop from going to Hollywood in protest."

"Y-you mean… there are mythical creatures here?" I just couldn't believe it. Did that mean that Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster actually existed too?

Terri just shrugged again, clearly not disturbed by my question. "Of course. And you're a good ol' example of juicy sci-fi material. If anyone knew about you, they'd be throwing themselves into the road just to get me to hit the brakes."

"So no one knows I'm here?"

The sun was on edge of going down, and traffic was clearly not all that hectic as she slowed down to sit behind a fancy black Hyundai that'd stopped for a red light just a few seconds before. "Nope. Just you, me and the twins back there. So far, you're about as well known as the meaning of life."

I was blown away. Was something like this really possible or had I finally gone nuts? "Does anyone else know these… things exist?"

The answer was quick and simple. "Nope."

All I could do was blink. She'd been so tight lipped before. Why was she spilling her guts to me now? "Really?"

"Really, really." Without taking her eyes off the road, she kept talking, her expression looking kind of grim again. "Humans freaked when they found out their little tales were real, and tried to destroy everything they could find. My species worked night and day to keep a massacre from happening. Either way, it was a really bloody mess."

I suddenly felt sick. Right then, I really wish I hadn't asked. "And now?"

"They're as oblivious as turkey to gunshot from behind." She simply muttered.

"Wait… you said species. Does that mean that you're--?"

The smirk was back, this time nasty and bitter. "Not human? Somewhat. We call ourselves Guardians for better lack of a proper name. We've been around since the human race began, the oldest of us still around and kicking to make sure the rest of us younglings don't destroy anything."

"Who would that be?"

She just shrugged, keeping from making eye contact as she spoke. "A large majority of the High Council are pretty damn old. Oh yeah, and the emperor's old as dirt if you can believe it."

"You have an emperor? Isn't that a bit outdated?"

Terri then committed another first by rolling her eyes at the question. "Yeah, yeah, we know. But we've too much respect for him to take him down from power. That and he's a really nice old man. A lot of us thought he'd go senile a few thousand years ago, but he's still going strong. Probably because his blood's the strongest of us all."

"What does that make you?"

All she did was shrug again. "I'm what they call a half blood. I used to be a carrier but then I got activated."

"Activated?"

This time she looked at me. The look in her eyes was really creepy. "What do you think the cane's for?"

I knew then I'd gone into forbidden territory. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't--."

"Chill out kid. No big deal. I've had it for a few years now. Stuff like that doesn't really bother me anymore." She said a bit too calmly, turning away again as she calmly maneuvered past other cars. "Besides, the Guardian gene can't fix everything."

A silence fell over us. One I thought would never end until I had the brains to change the subject a little. "So what did you mean by carrier?"

"To be honest, there used to be a time when humans and Guardians intermarried either out of love or as a political move. Back when we weren't considered all that dangerous by our mortal cousins, one of whom being you most likely. Sometimes the half blood kids were stronger than their full blood parents. Other times, their powers didn't even surface at all. After the separation of the two species, the offspring of these marriages vanished from the public eye and had kids of their own. Those whose powers popped up right off were scouted into Guardian ranks to protect them from human wrath and prejudice. The rest just became carriers. Unwitting flag holders of the empire and the future of the people and their nations."

Now that was something a little hard to believe. What was it this girl said they didn't have? "Empire?"

Terri just chuckled into the steering wheel, understanding my tone pretty well. "Despite what you think, we Guardians are actually quite respectful towards other people's space. We take up what nobody wants. After the separation, my ancestors had to go next door to a whole different solar system to start over."

"Another solar system? You can travel through space?" this was definitely a jump from cool scuba gear of Cloral and the dygos of Zadaa. Just how advanced were these people anyway?

As if hearing my thought, Terri wasted no time answering this rhetorical question that was waiting to be asked. "Our technology was, at the time, 30,000 years ahead of everyone else. But we still lived in the same mud and squalor as all the other peasants and nobles of the time. The humans thought we were gods when we first emerged but we denied it. 'From a human's womb we've come, therefore we are human' was the saying I think."

"You mean like in 'Star Trek'?"

She just chuckled at the reference. "Exactly like that, but way better. We didn't meet anybody out there, so we just terra formed a few of the planets then stuck everybody on 'em. Even the mythical beasts of ages long past."

"Are there any left? On this planet I mean."

I had to blink when she scoffed at the question. "Oh plenty! But we have to keep a sharp eye on them to ensure they don't accidentally eat or step on somebody. They're still here either because they couldn't leave, or didn't want to leave. So in order to stay here, the Council and the Emperor came up with a whole bunch of laws that the critters have to follow or else we'll cart them away to where the rest of their kind have settled down at anyway." She gave me a sidelong glance and a knowing smirk as we slowly came to a halt amidst a whole stream of cars. "Until that day, I'm the street cop who yells at them for heading down the wrong street during rush hour."

"Sounds like tough work."

"It is. Especially when they're too arrogant to really listen." The smirk vanished for a moment, which had me a little worried but it came back when she kept talking. "But I usually solve that issue real quick."

I took a little look around, already familiar with a number of the buildings around me. It was pretty obvious I knew I was somewhere south of central New York. "So where are we headed to now?"

Terri just glanced at me like I'd suddenly grown a second head. "Didn't I tell you? We're goin' to my place. Get you settled and rested so that stuff Evan gave you can do its job without it going into overdrive and kill you."

"K-kill me?" I was stunned. I'd faced a whole bunch of battles and a dangerous virus, but something as innocent as my own chi or whatever it was? That was news to me in a whole new sense of the word. "Are you serious?"

As usual, Terri didn't seem all that concerned about it. "It's rare. But since you're still conscious, I highly doubt it. From my understanding, it varies from person to person."

I could only roll my eyes as I leaned against the door, resting my chin in my hands as I turned my gaze out the window. "Thanks. That sounds so reassuring."

Like before, I heard her chuckle from the other side of the car. "No doubt about that I'm sure."

"So… where do you live?"

Traffic started moving again as she spoke, the sounds of the city muffled by the rolled up windows as we drove past bustling crowds and other cars. "We're almost there. But we should probably make a stop first."

"Do I need another shot?" I couldn't help it since she'd already done it to me. But Terri didn't seem to think much of it.

"No, no. We need food." She said rather matter-of-factly. "What I've got already isn't enough for two people. It's been a while since I've had guests so I guess I didn't see far ahead enough. Just goes to show you can't be prepared for anything."

I didn't know how I was supposed to respond but I said the first thing that came into my head. "I guess not."

"Let me guess… you're concerned."

This question took me by surprise a little. "What? Oh. Yeah, I am. I just hope no one gets sucked up like I did."

Terri's calm expression turned a little sour. "Let's hope not. But you can never be too careful. If we're lucky, that thing can only handle one person at a time and needs time to recharge between passengers."

"Yeah, I hope so too."

A silence fell between us, broken only by the noises beyond the car's well-cared for windows. Just when I'd thought we'd spend the rest of the ride this way, Terri spoke up again, this time a bit more tentative. "You never did tell me _exactly_ how you got caught by it. Care to elaborate?"

I had to wave the question away. Even after all this time, I still couldn't wrap my head around someone other than an acolyte or a Traveler actually believing a word I said to them. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. For all I know, you think I'm crazy and you're taking me to the nearest nut house."

"If that were true, we'd both be in the back of a clean white truck with padding on the walls in straight jackets. And if fate were kind, I'd be placed in the nice little padded room next to yours when we get there." Something about the way she said that was kinda creepy, but I couldn't help but think that she was right. "C'mon kid! You're obviously from an alternate dimension of some kind. This is a completely different universe. And I've been to a few other worlds and let me tell ya, whatever you do: don't drink the water."

This made me crack a smile for the first time in days. For all I knew, she was serious about the water. "I just might take you up on that."

"Damn right. Otherwise there'll be hell to pay." She said coolly and without even missing a beat. "Now, about where you're from."

I didn't see how I had any other choice, even though I probably had a good opportunity to get away back in the forest. But from what I'd seen so far, she didn't appear to be someone who played around all that much. Even if she needed to work on her sarcasm a little. So, I started talking. First, like always, I started talking about Uncle Press and how he changed everything before my very eyes. And all she did was sit there, eyes on the road when her slight change in expression told me she was listening to every word I said. Up until I got to the events on Veelox, we'd been driving around, calmly dealing with traffic and normal city activity. I was only halfway through the events that happened to Loor and me while we'd been trapped in Lifelight when she pulled over and shut off the car.

At first, I was a little confused. "Why are we stopping?"

"Any requests?" she said calmly, pointedly gesturing out my window. Confused, I turned to find we were near the curb, and that were parked in front of a diner with the neon light sign blinking 'open' in the window.

Oh. Yeah, she said we'd get food. I felt kinda stupid asking such an obvious question but did as asked. "Just a sandwich is fine."

Terri just nodded. "Hm. Alrighty then. Sit tight kid." Next thing I knew, she was out of the car, heading around the front end and through the diner's front door.

And did I mention how odd it was that she kept calling me 'kid'? I mean, just to recap, she's just a few years older than I am. Right? For a few minutes, I couldn't help but think that Terri might actually be Saint Dane. But I had to consider just how truly impossible that was. Terri was… different. Besides, if she really were him, she'd have left me alone with good ol' zombie man back in the woods. But thankfully she didn't. All the more reason for me to believe that after all this time, I've finally gotten paranoid. Yet another reason why I suddenly felt dead tired. I couldn't tell if it was the shot I got or just all the energy I'd spent in the last few days. The air outside was chilly, but the car was still warm from when the heater had been turned on. And that was just enough to get me drowsy. Probably within less than a minute, I was dead asleep.

Next thing I knew, a hand was on my shoulder, warm and heavy. A voice called out to me as the hand gently nudged me back to consciousness. Like many times before, I woke up confused and disoriented. But when my vision cleared, I saw the Mustang's dashboard and no one in the driver's seat. And from the view I was getting through the windows, we were in some kind of garage and that we were parked. When I finally looked the other way, I saw Terri looking down at me through the open passenger side door. Just standing there in wait, one of her arms folded over the open door while the opposite hand was on my shoulder.

Terri just kind of tilted her head at me, as if silently questioning her decision of waking me up before speaking. "You okay there kid? You were out cold when I got back to where I almost thought you were dead."

I wiped my eyes, feeling a little groggy for being asleep for so long. It wasn't like me to doze off like that. "I'm okay. But you can stop calling me a kid though."

She just scoffed. Obviously she wasn't going to take such a request as seriously as I'd previously hoped. "Heh. Party pooper. Anyway, we're here and it's only right that you get out and sleep in a _real_ bed. Or do you want to stay out here for the night?"

"No! No, a real bed would be great."

The smirk was back, and staying strong as she moved away to let me out of the car. "Good. The last thing I need is to get up tomorrow wondering why there's a teenage boy sleeping in my car."

I looked around as I stood up and closed the car door behind me. The place was eerily dark except for the sole light above me and the parked car, and the walls were either hidden in darkness, or blocked by boxes and car parts on large shelves. "So where are we?"

Terri merely shrugged nonchalantly, calmly walking away towards an exit I couldn't see amidst the shelves. "My place or my underground garage rather. This is where I rebuilt this car. Among others if you can believe that."

"You live here?" I asked, a bit dubious.

"Not here. The floors above it for sure, but here? Nah. Only if the project's really important that it needs constant handling. This place's more like a basement than a garage but whatever works." Terri seemed to reach into the darkness and find a doorknob, because suddenly she had opened a door and flicked on a light. Her silhouette turned to me and spoke from the darkness I knew was her face. "C'mon. I'll get you set up."

Sleeping in a basement is creepy. Sleeping in a basement turned garage is even creepier. Even if you're in a car that's well-made and insured to keep you from harm. But I wasn't going to risk freezing to death in a huge, dark space in a world I knew close to nothing about. It just so happened to look like home. That and since I'd come this far, it was only fair that I go through with it. Even if it might mean I'd have to somehow run for my life to do it.

That and I didn't think there was anything particularly threatening about her. At least for now. She still had that weird cane that changed into a sword back at the forest. How that was even possible was beyond me. But I'm sure she'll tell me eventually. So I set all of those thoughts aside and followed her to find we were going to take a small staircase up into a small hallway. Only for it to lead to even more and much higher stairs. And lots of 'em. The place looked like any other house I'd seen: made of wood with old pictures here and there. But this place was different. Everything was covered in dust, the floor panels groaned under our weight and the only light that seemed to exist came from a feeble little lamp in the entrance hallway that was almost twenty feet away from us.

In other words, the whole place looked abandoned. How could anyone live in a place like this? Did this girl willingly live in squalor while battling zombies and who knew what the hell else? What else wasn't she telling me about this world? Or was she holding back things about herself? I didn't know for certain but she didn't seem to notice my hesitation to walk further into the room. Looking up, I could see that the stairs went up for more than five floors. If I was right, this was going to be a hell of a climb.

But when she looked back at me, I had a feeling that there was something missing to the picture: there was no sign that anyone had even lived there in over twenty years. Yet here we were. Standing in a building that looked like it would topple at the slightest blow of the wind. Except Terri just stopped and sighed when she saw I was still in the doorway of the basement stairs.

"When I said we used spaces nobody wants, doesn't mean it's a danger zone. It's okay to walk here. This place'll only go down unless I let it so c'mon already." She grumbled as she started walking off again.

"Are you sure?" I had to ask as I followed. Caution was really starting to kick in for me. I wasn't about to be caught off guard by something mega freaky. "Or are you just saying that to freak me out again?"

Terry just chuckled, the sound itself seeming to lack humor for some reason. "I'm being perfectly honest here. Besides, if I'd lied to you, you'd have bolted by now. And that's something that'll get me indicted for carelessness. Not exactly somethin' I want on my record by this point. You comin' or not?"

I complied, still pretty wary of the floor and how old and dried it looked. Not something anyone wanted to be walking on I'm sure. Terri took this as her cue to keep walking forward. Only she went right past the bottom staircase and right into a flanking doorframe to disappear beyond. I had to jog just to catch up to her, only to find she was already across the room and had her back to me. Without saying a word she reached out and touched the wall, making the area her palm came in contact with to glow and move away. It was like watching a flower bloom in fast-forward and what the wall revealed was just as cool: right before my eyes, Terri had shown the way to a pair of metal doors… to an elevator. Weaving in-between clothe covered furniture, I came to stand next to her before the sleek, steel double doors.

"You knew about this?" I asked, sounding really stupid by now.

As expected, Terri glanced at me like I was brainless somehow. "Are you seriously that dull? Man and here I thought you were somewhat remotely intelligent. Shame on you."

To be honest, her attitude was really starting to get on my nerves. But I had to keep it cool. Even if I wasn't in Halla anymore, I still needed to be in the game. "You can stop patronizing my now."

"Then stop making it so damn easy." She grumbled at me as the doors suddenly but slowly opened to reveal a rather plain looking interior. Everything was pretty basic: wooden walls with a metallic silver rail trailing on all sides except the entrance. A plain old 21th century elevator that even had plain blue tile flooring to complete the thing. You could say I was a little thrown off by something so normal being in the wrong part of a building that looked like it was about to topple over. I was almost so shocked that I almost didn't hear her speak.

"Besides, you need to stop freaking out so much. The last thing I need to do is drag some teen through my house because he jumps at every little thing." Once we were both inside the doors shut and it started to move, I guess that's when I first noticed that Terri was actually using her cane to stand up. Even now I can't help but wonder why I didn't ask 'are you okay?' But by the look on her face, I guess I had a feeling that she'd have just gotten sarcastic with me again. She was keeping her face straight and didn't say a thing as we went further and further up, even though I couldn't help but think that maybe she wanted to fall over screaming.

Within minutes the elevator stopped and the doors slid open, showing yet another hallway for us to travel. Only this time it didn't look run down or dangerous. This new area actually looked hospitable, the wooden floor clean and fresh, the walls well painted with a random picture hanging here and there. There was even a small table of cherry wood that had an intricate vase on it. Sticking out, fresh and new was a single stem, green and vibrant like its many leaves and the small purple, bell shaped flowers that seemed to weigh the thing down. If not for that fact it looked so healthy, I'd have thought the poor plant was going to snap in half.

But Terri just seemed to pause when she saw it, giving it good long look before making a sound that, to me, sounded like a chuckle. Then she just shook her head at it, almost like she couldn't believe it. "Well I'll be damned." I heard her say. "Canterbury bells, and here no less? Are they serious?"

She didn't give me time to question what she meant, mostly because it seemed like she didn't know I was behind her anymore. But I knew that wasn't true when she stopped at a door by the end and turned to me, still standing near the table with the vase on it. Terri just stared at me like I'd fallen asleep on my feet. "You comin' or not?"

"Yeah!" I felt a little stupid saying it but I had to say it anyway before I jogged to catch up with her, wondering to myself why I was so confused. Why had she stared at the flower like that? Why did she say those things to it like it was a person? Was it really a good idea going along with this girl all because I wasn't in my own universe anymore? Did I have a right to question anything these days? I don't know. This all left my mind when she opened the door to the apartment: everything was dark and subtle, with the occasional flash of color brought in by a painting or an arrangement of knick knacks that gave the place a rather odd ambiance. Was she trying to be two different people at once? Because this felt like it was definitely an odd place to be in for some reason.

Without turning around, she left me at the door and headed to her left, which turned out to be where the kitchen was. The island counter hid most of the area from view but the fact it had stools to go with it, all standing on the opposite side where I was, happened to be the most obvious thing. Like the elevator doors, the front of the rather large fridge was also composed of metallic silver steel, separated by a section of countertop from the both the stove and the dishwasher as well as the sink. Like in the hallway, everything in the place was disturbingly spotless. I felt like I was in the penthouse of the Manhattan Tower Hotel all over again. Only there weren't goons ready to toss me out the door and no gangster to give them the go ahead. Off to my far right, I saw there were windows revealing the city to room. The view I saw was one of the few I'd remember for a long time: tall buildings of every type and size, lights of yellow and white shining brightly against the stark darkness of the night.

Either I was suddenly started day dreaming in the middle of the night or I'd finally lost it. But I knew it was neither since I was conscious that and I wasn't in a place where going nuts was highly unlikely. I didn't have time to be thinking like that. There was no way I'd let something like a good view derail me. I looked back towards the kitchen area to find that Terri had taken off her coat and was calmly moving around without her trusty cane in hand. By the look of it, she was putting something together. A bit curious about this, I came forward for a closer look. Much to my surprise, she was putting a sandwich together. A bologna sandwich no less from what I could surmise from my standing point.

As if on cue, she glanced up at me, stopped what she was doing and turned towards the fridge to open one of the doors. Before I could ask, she'd already reached inside and pulled out a white paper bag, came back to the counter and set it in front of me.

"That's yours. You might want to heat it up before you try to chow down. I didn't know what drink you wanted so I just didn't get one. I should have some different flavor sodas left in there if you want to look." she said as she continued to build her sandwich, not even looking up at me.

"Where am I gonna sleep?"

Still not looking up, Terri spoke pretty well for someone not even paying much attention to their guest. "I have a guest room with a bed down the hall there. Everything you need should be in the closet. The bathroom's on the right. I have a few other guest rooms just in case but besides that, all the other rooms are off limits."

I just had to express my confusion. "Why?"  
This time she stopped and looked up at me. "What happened? You lose a few brain cells starin' out the window?"

"Is the sarcasm really necessary?" I had to say it. The sarcasm really was getting old by now.

For a second, I thought she'd smiled at me. But after a few seconds of staring, I found that she was just smirking instead. This did nothing to change her tone though. "Who said anything about necessity?"

"Are you done making fun of me?" I asked, hopefully sound serious enough for her to actually listen.

She just shrugged. "Are you done asking silly questions?"

"Asking questions? No, not really. Are they silly? I highly doubt that." I think I was close to yelling I was so frustrated. Was this girl going to keep me going in circles all night for her amusement? "But are you sure you don't want to tell me what's behind the mystery doors?"

She just shrugged again, taking a small bite out of her newly made sandwich before speaking once more. "I'm pretty sure. Besides, if you don't eat that burger soon, I'll give it to the dog."

_Dog?_ This was the first I'd heard of a pet. "What do you mean 'dog'? There's no dog in here!"

"Who said he was in this room?"

I didn't know what to say. Was she being sarcastic again? Or was she being serious about having a pet dog? It became quickly apparent that she was serious when I heard something clacking on the wooden floor behind me, causing me to spin and see: an almost black fur face. Large brown eyes stared at me curiously, hints of dark brown fur on the edges of its face. Hence, the dog of the present conversation. And from the way its ears and face were shaped, I knew right away that it was a German Sheppard. The fur on the rest of its body was mostly black, with patches of brown to even it all out as it stood there. Those brown eyes were pretty focused on me.

Not even bothered by the dog's sudden appearance, Terri didn't hesitate in responding to its presence. "Jun! There you are! Damn. I guess even you can surprise me. C'mon over here, it's time to chow anyhow."

The dog I knew now to be named Jun, perked up at her voice, quickly moving past me and around the counter to face his master. Having a feeling that she was just going to ignore me for a while, I resolved into grabbing the white paper bag to see if the girl I'd only known for only a few hours had really gotten me a burger. Turns out she did, and it came with extra fries. I felt like I was in 1937 New York all over again, sitting in a high class hotel room with Gunny and Spader. Back when I was really first starting out on my own. And all without Uncle Press to guide us along. Just thinking about it made my heart want to not beat anymore. But I know I couldn't stay in the past forever.

Setting the bag down on the nearest table in the living room, I took off my coat and shoes before sitting. Even if I hadn't noticed, I was definitely hungry now. I didn't care if most of it was still in the bag. I just ate it as soon as I could, knowing better than to eat it too fast. The last thing I wanted to be doing was barfing it back up. But it felt good to be eating real food for once in all the time I'd spent in other territories eating things that not even the Health Department would've approved of. If they'd let me, I'd have said no to everything they put in front of me. Well, not everything. But you guys know what I mean. That burger was the best I'd had in a long time. When I was done, I was parched to where I actually looked up for the first time in twenty minutes. Looking towards the kitchen, I saw that Terri was gone. Where I didn't know but I knew better than to question much at this point.

Making sure my hands were clean, I got up and opened the fridge. Terri wasn't lying about having different flavors. Hell, it almost made me feel like I was fifteen all over again and we all stocked up for a party. As nice as the visual was, I knew the bitter truth: I was in another world, my family was gone and nearly half of my friends were either dead or trapped. Not wanting to think about it further, I grabbed the drink I wanted and headed back to the couch where I finished the rest of my meal in silence. Finding the trash can to toss away the bag and the soda can wasn't hard, figuring out which room I was going to be staying in was hard. Especially since Terri wasn't there to tell me. No way she'd left, I'd have noticed right away. That and her dog Jun was gone too. The only place I could think of was the hall that led away to another part of the apartment past the kitchen and in the far left corner.

Unlike the rest of the apartment, that one hallway was dark. So dark I could almost swear that it was like a piece of the night sky had made itself at home there. The dark was so thick, just looking at it made me a little uneasy. After a minute or two of sitting there, feeling like an idiot for not being braver, I heard a door open and close. I feel kinda foolish now since at the time I thought it was a ghost or something. But it wasn't until Terri emerged from the darkness with a plate in her hand while she had her cane in the other, I felt really stupid. I was past being paranoid by now. I was probably safe and I knew for sure there was no way she was Saint Dane in disguise. She gave me a confused glance but didn't really meet my eyes after that.

According to her, the light bulb in the hallway was broken and needed to be replaced. I offered to do it but she said it was best to do it in the morning. Then she got really commanding after that.

"The bathroom's through this door here. I already cleared away all my stuff so there's no need to feel like a completely insecure child when you go in there. And the guest bedroom you'll be staying in is over there through that door. Remember that because it's one of the few down this way that isn't locked. There's also a desk in that room and should have enough paper and stuff in it for your journal thing." Terri said in what sounded like one breath. If it wasn't already, it was certainly apparent now that she didn't like to waste time. Or be asked questions.

I'm going to end it here guys. Terri says that we have things to do tomorrow, which I can only hope are related to getting me back into Halla. In the meantime, I need to find out how I got here and why. And is it possible it's all related to our fight against Saint Dane. I don't know the details yet, but I won't stop until I get answers.

--_**End Journal # Unknown 1**_--

Mark and Courtney stared at the pages before them, both seeming to think the same thing: was there really another Earth out there? One that looked exactly like Second Earth in practically every way and form, all the way down to the color of the sky? How was it possible? Was there a world out there where none of this had ever happened, and they were all attending high school like nothing was wrong? Could a place like that really exist somewhere?

After a few minutes of silence, Mark had to break the silence between them. "C-Courtney, w-what should we do? Bobby could be stuck there!"

But she shook her head, her face showing her disapproval. They'd already found out the hard way how messing with things only made it worse. "We don't know that. And neither does he for that matter. If he needs our help somehow, he'll tell us. Until then, we have to wait. Remember?"

"Y-yeah but—" this wasn't the time for him to be hesitating. He knew that and pushed forward. "Should we go check the flume? You know… just in case?"

Courtney couldn't argue with this logical question. As acolytes to their world's Traveler it was only right to see if anyone, or anything, had come through the flume recently. The steeling of her eyes was all indication Mark needed, both of them rising from their chairs to leave while Mark stuffed the journal into his backpack. Next stop: the flume hidden in the basement of Sherwood house.

Holy stinkin' crap I'm so, so sorry you guys. This thing got so long to where I almost didn't know where to stop. Yeah I know it's longer than it probably should be but I promise that the next chapter won't be as lengthy. Or at least I hope not. Oh well. Anyway I should move on right? Right. No point in wasting precious time over nothing ya know? Here's what's to come:

Next time:

Chapter 3: Over The Edge

While Courtney and Mark make their way to the flume, they have no idea what might await them, if anything at all. If that's true, then is Bobby safe? What about the other Travelers? How will Bobby's disappearance from Halla affect their mission to save it from Saint Dane? Did the ever-present villain have a hand in sending Bobby from their world and into another on purpose? Or is there more to this than anyone knows? Find out in the up and coming installment of '_The Missing Journals_' with:

_**Chapter 3: Over The Edge!!!**_


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